BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) -- The journey from
downtown Burlington to Lake Champlain was fraught with peril for a duck
and her 13 ducklings - but a group effort by concerned citizens saved
the day.

A mama mallard and her 13 ducklings were
strolling from downtown to the bay one afternoon last week when several
little ones fell through the slits of a storm drain, plopping into a
pool of water formed by the day's thunderstorms.

"They were peeping away and the
mother was quacking back," said Kyle Church, a computer technician
who was one of the first people at the scene.

The mother circled the drain frantically,
becoming increasingly upset when the remaining birds that followed her
footsteps fell through the opening.

Church sprang into action as he and
co-worker John Greenia ripped off the sewer grate. Greenia climbed into
the storm drain and fished out as many ducklings as he could.

But some started swimming toward the lake
and were out of reach. Mother duck listened and followed their peeps
right to the next sewer grate, which more of her babies once again fell
through.

It was time to call the authorities.

Jodi Harvey, animal control officer with
the Burlington police, arrived to find a crowd around the quacking and
peeping birds.

"I figured, 'God, what am I going to
do?'" she said. "I couldn't leave them here. I scooped the
babies up first. I had to hold up traffic."

Onlooker Krista Lothrop handed Harvey a
cardboard box, and Harvey put the ducks inside. The ducks then got a
lift to the lake in a police cruiser and calmly swam away.

Source: customwire.ap.org

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The photos below have been attributed to this story in online
forums.
No credits were mentioned - please email us if you know the source.

UPDATE:
A new source for these photos has been located and believed authentic -
Note: the website address on the photos below have been cropped off and
there are additional photos on the new site too. See link below
these pics...

"story: i was driving home (i was actually inside the
gate of my complex) when i saw the ducks. i thought it was cute, so parked
near by and took some pics. then the mom duck starts walking, with all the
little chicks following, right over that grate. all but one fell through
(as you can see). it went down to a sewer connection without any water,
maybe a 3 foot drop. so i got out of my car and pulled the grate off and
went down there to try to get the chicks. when i pulled the grate off,
dirt fell down there and scared them and they scattered. but, i was able
to get all but one back up top. the last one wouldn't move, and i wasn't
gonna go down the sewer pipe much more without a flashlight. hopefully
that chick will find it's way back."

See the original photos and additional pics at the
photographer's site:http://flippedcracker.net/photos/ducksNote:
Photographer's website may be "down" (possibly due to increased
bandwidth usage)